Yipee! I finally got through the dark rift in SoA! I did not however
get hints from you people. Only one of you it seems has SoA and was farther than me. Of course
he was far enough to have fuzzy memories of this particular place. Still, everyone who has SoA,
go get yourself a cookie! Now then, column time.

To answer your question about Cthulhu being born in the US , the answer
is: Yes and no. Cthulhu is as old as time itself , and thus can be said to be
born 'on US soil' , or to be more precise the matter that latter became US
soil. Which brings me to my second point: The US has existed since the
Revolutionary War. Cthulhu has existed noticably longer. So can one that
predates the US qualify for president under those conditions. I say yes ,
because it's about time we have a daemonic Eldar God in charge of this
country. Also , I'm considering getting a DC , but other than Shenmue and
Skies of Arcadia , what really good RPGs does it have? (I have a policy of
not playing anything that rates under 'really good' , because there is enough
high quality stuff out there to make it just not worth it to play anything
less)

-Freezer

Googleshng:Can't argue with that! Let's elect him
ri- wait a sec. Why would we want a hideous monster that will drive us all insane and kill
us for president again?

Percentages

Two things:

1) FROG BLAST THE VENT CORE

2) I'm curious about something and, unfortunately, I don't have the time
to do the research required. Perhaps, however, one of your readers both
shares my curiosity and has time to do the research. So I pose the following
question:

What is the approximate percentage of known RPGs that fit the following
description:

"Boy from small town / village / farm dreams of becoming a hero. Together
with a band of friends, he goes out into the world. They get caught up in a
struggle to save the world from an impending evil."

Take care,

-Nij

Googleshng:Ooh, that dreams of becoming a hero bit
makes it a narrow little sliver. There's everything by Game Arts, arguably a few Dragon
Warriors, maybe an FF or two, I suppose two or three of the Zeldas, good chunks of the SaGa
and SD series, maybe a couple Shinings and Ys games. It's under 10% though. More often
than not, the hero just gets swept up into events by looking to save/avenge a friend/family
member, or gets kicked out of their tiny home town after being made the scapecoat for a
monster attack/complete destruction of town. Oh, and then there's the special agent whose
mission goes awry angle. Personally, I prefer vengence. You get that whole "My name is
Indigo Mantoya, you killed my father, prepare to die" thing going. 8)

Puppetmasters

I was waiting outside EB when it opened. . . I bought it. . . two copies, of course. I then sat down.
And beat it. This is the first time I've stood up. I thought I'd write you before I passed out from
dehydration and lack of sleep and food. . . I need to make sure to pass out on the toilet while I'm at
it. . .

Seriously, though, I'm only a few hours into it and I'm really enjoying it. I still think the card game is
over-rated, but maybe that's just my backlash for really disliking FF8.

Question: I may have missed it somewhere in the instruction book, but why is there a controller icon
in the upper right portion of my screen flashing the number 1 at me?

Must sleep, so that I can go to work and still be awake to play FF9 when I get home. . .

Onewing

quote while playing: "Dude! Vivi got pissed!"

Googleshng:Simply put, FF9 brings back the ability
to let a second person control a character or two or three.

Death of a console

Hi, Goog!

I'll be getting a copy of FF9 any day now ( what?! you
haven't got it yet?! ) as I live in Sweden and have to
get mine through an importer. But after I finish that,
what then? I haven't got enough money to buy neither a
dreamcast nor a PS2, so I'll have to get games for ye
olde PSX. Now, help me, what have I got to look
forward to? Tales of Eternia, Arc the Lad Collection,
Breath of Fire IV or maybe Persona 2? And after that,
is it all going to end on the PSX? Please, help me!!!

Ephazer

Googleshng:Well, yeah, pretty much. There's a few
other games which may or may not come out here (like Khamrai) but other than that, everyone
seems to be finished with their big PSX projects.

Random battles

Quick question, it came up as I was playing FF9 (currently in the ice cavern-
yeah I know I'm slow, I just got is sunday)

When Square and other developers make RPGs, how do they determine when the
random battles pop up. Is there an invisible grid in the walking area that
you step on a block its initiated? or is it proportionate to the amount of
steps you take.

thanks

Googleshng:It varies from game to game. Some games
roll a die ever step you take to see if you get in a fight. Some roll a die for how many
steps you can take before you get in a fight. Those are pretty much the only two schools
on it, except for monsters appearing on the map, but that's a different story.

Ratings

First off, great job so far. keep it up. I just read an interview with Dr.
David Walsh, head of the National Institute on Media and the Family. You might
know them as the ones who put those little ratings on the videogames. In the
interview he told how they arrive at the ratings. In short, they have a pool
of parents "trained" as raters. They have one gamer on their staff who plays
the games, beats them, and makes an approximatly half hour video tape collage
of
that represents various "levels" in the game. Then the parent raters rate the
game based on that collage. Do you, Goog, or anyone else think this is wrong?
The people that review movies and tv shows watch them, why cant the people who
review video games play them? I think there is no way you can understand the
message or feelings by watching a half hour collage. Well, im done, i emailed
Dr. David Walsh, the creator of this phoney system, we'll see
what he says. Thanks Google.
Lurch

Googleshng:That doesn't sound right. That would mean
one particular person would have to play every single game released in this country before
it hit the shelves. There's no way that would work. I'd assume they have a huge staff
of players and a relatively small pool of raters. Anyway, while that doesn't explain how
the deuce Parasite Eve is rated M for "Animated Violence, Mature Sexual Themes", but it
DOES explain why Xenogears isn't, and why neither of those have "Animated blood and gore".
I think they should just have the publishers rate'em themselves personally.